When her husband, Cesar Campos, 38, went to investigate, he saw two young men in the car, with its left front smashed into the side of the house.

"When I saw it, I thought both guys were dead," he said.

Roger Castro, 20, of North Amityville, had been driving a 1997 Pontiac Bonneville south on Great Neck Road about 8:35 p.m. Saturday when the car went out of control, crashed into the corner of an unoccupied house and then hit the Campos' house next door, police said.

Kenia Campos recalled that her first thought after the crash was of her daughter, age 17, who was expected home. "I'm crying, crying, crying, looking for my daughter," she said.

It turned out her daughter had not yet returned and her son and other daughter, who is 12, were not injured. Campos was treated at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip.

The impact from the crash broke the house's large side window and two smaller front windows, shattering glass on the family. The crash also destroyed a picket fence, took out some siding and cracked a wall.

Campos' teenage daughter said she recognized Castro, who was in her science class at Walter G. O'Connell Copiague High.

A few miles away, friends and neighbors mourned Castro and hoped for Cruz to recover.

"Roger is a good guy. He's a worker. He attends . . . the church," said neighbor Paul Hernandez, 43. "I was very sad. We never expect anything like that."

Jocelyn Interiano, 18, a neighbor who described herself as Castro's girlfriend, said Castro and Cruz were inseparable friends -- so much so that Castro rented the basement of the home Cruz shared with his parents, moving in about five months ago.

Interiano said Castro worked in demolition for a construction company and had a 2-year-old son from a previous relationship. She said she and Castro had reconciled Friday.